The present influences
what we believe about the past.
Who was Jesus?
A myth? A good man? A teacher? A prophet? Much hinges on the answer to that
question.
The Apostle John
answered that question in the prologue to his Gospel. Jesus, the Word, was in
the beginning. He was with God. He was God. He created all there is. He became
a man. He was rejected. He gives life to all who believe in him.
Did the early
disciples actually believe this? Or was this a later construct?
The present
influences what we believe about the past.
The John
Rylands Library at Manchester, England houses fragments of ancient writings. In
1934 a fellow at St. John’s College at Oxford was sorting through some papyri
from Egypt. He found a small fragment of the Gospel of John. Since penmanship
constantly changes over time, papyri can be dated by its writing style. Originally
dated by paleography to 117 – 138 AD, most scholars currently it date to 125 –
150 AD.
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| Earliest fragment of the Gospel of John |
John was an
eye witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Although it is
traditionally believed that John wrote his Gospel while in Ephesus around 90 AD,
he most likely wrote it before the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem was destroyed in
A.D. 70.[1]
His eyewitness account was copied and a copy made its way to Egypt. Within 100
years of Jesus’ death, Christians in Egypt had written eyewitness testimony
that Jesus lived, died, was buried and came back to life, and that he is God!
The present
influences what we believe about the past.
The John
Rylands Papyrus P52 shows that there was no time for myth and legend
to develop between Jesus’ death and the Gospel of John showing up in Egypt. The
early disciples believed Jesus was God. This was not a later construct.
I set John’s
prologue to music and incorporated it in a musical, "The Majesty of the Maker." This video is scrolling
playback of the song.
Kathy
Click here to
download 50-page PDF of the musical: book, music in lead sheet format, lyrics.
Print sheet
music for choir (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML) sheet music for chamber
ensemble is available for The Word.
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| Click here for PDF. |
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| Click here for MusicXML. (MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML files.) |
Click here to
read about the John Rylands Papyrus P52
